I just did it for the first time. The phone was OK but I needed to make sure that my applications' rpm's install correctly with all the required dependencies and for that I needed a 'clean' device. With all the differences between the phone and the emulator and the targets you never know what's available by default and what isn't.

Surprise, surprise! The factory reset function doesn't give you a clean device with the same firmware version you've had, but it reverts it back to TRULY factory state, i.e. some ancient OS version from Jolla's early days (December 2013). Haven't checked the exact version, but if the first update offered was to v1.0.2.5 then the base version must have been v1.0.1.10 or an even earlier (i.e the initial) one. WTF?! OK, I understand that it reinstalls the whole system from some recovery image, but why doesn't that image get updated to the latest version when a system update is being installed? Makes no sense to me at all.

Result? After doing the factory reset I had to reinstall multiple system updates, one by one. Yes, you've read it correctly: apparently you can't jump from the oldest version to the latest (i.e. make just one update), you need to go through many of them. THREE (or maybe four) in total, if I counted correctly. Oh, and as if it wasn't enough, version 1.0.5.16 just didn't want to install, even though it downloaded correctly and the update process (Sailfish logo on black screen with a progress bar) seemed to be taking place. Took another attempt. So it was like at least FOUR update operations in total.

But it's just the beginning. Just imagine how many system updates you'll need to go through if you make a factory reset around Christmas 2014. Maybe a dozen

Truly bizarre. I'd understand if the recovery image (which is used to 'factory reset' the device) contained if not the current then at least the PREVIOUS system version as this way it might be useful in case of some serious issue with the most recent system version letting one revert to the previous OS release, but taking you back to some ancient BETA firmware is really an interesting approach, with hardly any uses other than nostalgia to see how the system looked in its childhood.

Any good news? Yes. After doing the factory reset and then installing the first update (1.0.2.5 or something like that) my Jolla finally (after FIVE MONTHS) suddenly correctly discovered for the first time ever its white TOH and automatically downloaded the Snow White ambiance (which turns out not to be snow white at all but a series of vertical bars of different shades). Apparently, without doing the factory reset I would never achieve this. Funny how the phone never managed to recognize its TOH while it had exactly that same firmware version when it came out in late December 2013.

P.S. My intention was to factory reset the device prior to testing each individual application to be 100% sure all of them correctly install all the required modules, but if I have to go through all these multiple updates nine times then I give up.

I'm just wondering how painful it'll become in the future, if Jolla continues to provide monthly system updates, which itself obviously is a good thing, but it'll mean that if doing a factory reset in e.g. 6 months one will have to install a bunch of updates to get back to the most recent OS version... I hope that at some point, with one of updates, they'll also update the 'recovery image' so that factory reset gives some more recent firmware and thus less updates required to do. Another solution would be to offer an update specifically for the 'factory reset' function, that brings the device from the oldest version directly to the newest one, without all the intermediate updates. But even in such case, now that Sailfish OS is no longer beta, I don't think that any function should be reverting the device back to BETA state, even just temporarily.

After doing the factory reset I had to reinstall multiple system updates, one by one. Yes, you've read it correctly: apparently you can't jump from the oldest version to the latest (i.e. make just one update), you need to go through many of them. THREE (or maybe four) in total, if I counted correctly.

Now that is very Linux-like (and not in a good way). I can only imagine when there are significant OS improvements (i.e. version 2.x, etc...) if you will still have to start all the way from the beginning.

In another sense, that is really interesting. At least you will never hear people complaining about not being able to downgrade to a previous firmware

I wouldn't say that Linux has much to do with it. The problem is simply that the 'recovery image' (which is a btrfs snapshot) is only flashed at the factory and then never updated. So there are two simple solutions:

- either update this snapshot (with every system update, with every second system update, once a quarter...)

- or provide (specifically for the 1.0.0.5 version which the 'factory reset' reverts the device to) a cumulative system update that updates the OS directly to the latest version without all the intermediate steps.

Both are technically viable.

On a different note, I'm wondering if brand new Jolla phones still leave factory with the ancient 1.0.0.5 OS and when taken out of their boxes require multiple updates? Or do they leave factory with a more recent OS version but still with that ancient 'recovery snapshot' making their owners really surprised once they do the factory reset.

Quote:

In another sense, that is really interesting. At least you will never hear people complaining about not being able to downgrade to a previous firmware

Actually, it is a good thing to be able to downgrade. It is not uncommon for system updates to introduce issues and bugs (or other undesired changes - some kids almost broke down after iOS 6 update when they learned that they cannot go back ), so possibility to get rid of the most recent update can be really useful. Because of this, that recovery snapshot could always contain the PREVIOUS system version, this way always allowing to downgrade, and otherwise only requiring one update after factory reset.

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